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Tuesday, February 21, 2017

Above 1m children acutely malnourished in South Sudan

Over 1 million children are estimated to be acutely malnourished
in South Sudan, reports NaijaAgroNet,
according to the UNICEF Representative in South Sudan, Jeremy Hopkins.

In addition, Hopkins disclosed that over a quarter of a
million children are already severely malnourished.

“If we do not reach these children with urgent aid many of
them will die. We urge all parties to allow humanitarian organizations
unrestricted access to the affected populations, so we can assist the most
vulnerable and prevent yet another humanitarian catastrophe," he said.

NaijaAgroNet
gathered that this is coming as the Integrated Food Security Phase
Classification (IPC) recent report estimated that 14 of the 23 assessed
counties have global acute malnutrition (GAM) at or above the emergency
threshold of 15 per cent, with some areas as high as 42 per cent.

For the World Food Programme (WFP) Country Director, Joyce
Luma, this Sudan situation is a man-made crisis.

"This famine is man-made. WFP and the entire
humanitarian community have been trying with all our might to avoid this
catastrophe, mounting a humanitarian response of a scale that quite frankly
would have seemed impossible three years ago. But we have also warned that
there is only so much that humanitarian assistance can achieve in the absence
of meaningful peace and security, both for relief workers and the crisis-affected
people they serve," she said, insisting "We will continue doing
everything we possibly can to hold off and reverse the spread of famine."

Across the country, she noted, three years of conflict have
severely undermined crop production and rural livelihoods.

“The upsurge in violence since July 2016 has further
devastated food production, including in previously stable areas. Soaring
inflation - up to 800 percent year-on-year - and market failure have also hit
areas that traditionally rely on markets to meet food needs. Urban populations
are also struggling to cope with massive price rises on basic food items,” she
said.